Trump: ‘Thousands’ in Jersey City cheered on 9/11 (VIDEO)

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. WASHINGTON — In the wake of the Paris attacks, terrorism has become the top issue among Republican voters in New Hampshire, and Donald Trump has maintained a 2 to 1 lead over a crowded field of competitors.

At a Birmingham, Ala., rally, Donald Trump also dismissed accounts of his apparent support for creating a registry of Muslims in the U.S. as an effort by the news media to entrap him, but said he did want a database of refugees entering the U.S. from Syria. — A white man punched and attempted to choke a black protester who was thrown on the ground at a Donald Trump rally in Birmingham on Saturday morning, as an onlooker yelled, “Don’t choke him!

A Suffolk University/Boston Globe Poll released Sunday shows how the deadly terror attacks by the self-proclaimed Islamic State have reshaped the political landscape for the GOP in the state that holds the nation’s first primary. We can’t have them,” he announced to a crowd of around 2,000 supporters. “I don’t want the people from Syria coming in because we don’t know who they are.” On Saturday, Vice President Joe Biden announced the government had introduced “another layer of checks just for Syrian refugees” in light of terrorism fears. However, Biden pointed out that shutting out refugees and creating a wedge between Muslims and the United States “play[s] right into the terrorists’ hands.” At least so far, Granite State voters haven’t reconsidered their support of the brash billionaire in favor of more establishment contenders, as some had suggested they might.

Indeed, 35% of GOP voters chose Trump as the Republican best equipped to handle the American response to ISIS, giving him a nearly 3 to 1 edge over his closest rival on the issue, Florida Sen. Meanwhile, Trump recounted how Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders recently responded to Black Lives Matter activists who came onto the stage of one of his events. “You see, he was politically correct,” Trump said. “Two young women came up to the podium. The poll of 500 likely New Hampshire Republican primary voters, taken Tuesday through Thursday by landline and cell phone, has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 percentage points. Can’t let that stuff happen.” The racially charged altercation happened in Birmingham, famous in the 1960s as a center of the civil rights’ struggle, and led some to note that Trump’s supporters attending the rally were nearly all white in a city with a majority of black people.

Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said the response of Muslim Americans on Sept. 11 was disgust. “I know because I wrote it,” he said of the council’s reaction. Former Florida governor Jeb Bush said some of Trump’s anti-Islam comments are “manipulating people’s angst and their fears.” Sanders, in an address at Georgetown University last week, said of Trump: “People should not be using the political process to inject racism into the debate.” Before the fight broke out, Trump had already warned the audience that Islamic State fighters might recruit their children online and called for an impenetrable wall along the southern border, prompting the crowd to chant: Build a wall! Also at the rally, a protester whom Trump called to have ejected — “Get him the hell out of here,” he ordered security guards — was punched and kicked by some attendees, CNN reported. And I don’t want them coming in.” Trump also said he watched as “thousands and thousands of people” cheered the fall of the World Trade Center on 9/11, which gave the impression that he was talking about Muslims being happy that so many Americans died. The Florida senator has the highest approval rating in the field, at 64%, and he is the top second choice among all candidates. “The Rubio thread runs deep throughout the poll,” Paleologos said. “If you look at who is in the top three when it comes to favorability, first choice, second choice, trust, or best chance of winning in the general election — Rubio is the only candidate who meets all those tests.” There’s another Republican with broad support in New Hampshire: Mitt Romney, the party’s 2012 nominee.

But starting on Wednesday, Trump’s campaign manager began to forcefully block reporters from leaving a designated media area during Trump’s speeches, restrictions that reporters have challenged. But soon after, Trump’s staff spotted him and forced him back into the media area they call “the pen.” A Washington Post reporter in the crowd also witnessed part of the altercation. Southall told the AL.com news site that the commotion started as he started recording himself and other protesters, and saying he wanted “Donald Trump to know he’s not welcome here.” Southall said someone knocked the phone out of his hand and called him a racial slur. On stage, Trump had been bragging about his high poll numbers, noting that rival Ben Carson is “dropping like a rock” in early polls and announcing that he’s “winning big” in Alabama.